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Why Laughter Always Wins: 4 Questions With Marshall Chiles

Injecting humor into a corporate event can be tricky. Executive humor coach Marshall Chiles—author of “Your Presentation is a Joke,” owner of several comedy clubs and founder of Humor Wins, a comedy group for hire—may have found the winning formula. In May, he spoke at ScaleUp Summit in collaboration with Fortune magazine on the importance of laughter in the business world. Here, he shares a few ways Humor Wins works for meetings.

Your company plans corporate comedy roasts and comedy groups. What’s the difference?A comedy group is like an improv troupe, while our roasts are written in advance. We give the roastees a questionnaire that helps us get to know that person to write jokes about them. Half my writers write for “Comedy Central Roast.” I have hosted some corporate award-style shows, been brought in to do 30 minutes of stand-up to start an event off on a high note with lots of laughs. Other times, the roast is the main event put on after drinks and dinner.